One goal after another
by Broken-Hearts-of-Angels
Summary: team 7 goes to Suna and Sakura meets Gaara for the first time. making a goal after another, she slowly makes it to Gaara but wonders if she likes Gaara of Sasuke. better description inside sasusaku and gaarasaku rated m for a reason
1. Prologue

**NOTE: This is in the Shippuden period, so if you haven't seen it, I'd ADVISE you not to read this, (to my sadness) because I don't want to give anyone any unwanted spoilers. **

**Let's just say that Sakura has never met Gaara and Gaara hasn't met Sakura. They all have attended the Chuunin exams, but they took it at the different seasons. (I can't remember, but I think they said that you can take one in the early year or again in autumn or something like that ;)**

**Disclaimer: yeah…I don't own Naruto.**

Sakura sighed as she walked through the harsh climate of the desert. The heat was almost unbearable.

They were on a mission to Suna, as the Kazekage was to have more protection because there were many threats to him, and increased by a great number this month. Tsunade, since the alliance of Leaf and Suna had doubled and were quite good neighbouring villages now, suggested she give the Kazekage some body guards. Much to the Kazekage's refusal, (Tsunade had muttered under her breath of something around the lines of him being too confident in himself) finally gave in and allowed only one team to go. Which turned out to be team 7, but Kakashi was on another mission, and would be late.

Sakura looked to the right to see the two guys that meant the world to her.

There was the obnoxious blond, with vibrant blue eyes, whose name was Naruto. Over the passed years, he started to develop a crush on a certain silver eyed girl with dark raven blue coloured hair. Her name was Hinata.

The other guy was Sasuke, he was cold, egotistic, and mean, yet she couldn't stop loving him, as a friend, and more than that. She had desperately tried to get his attention, of any way, trying to be braver on missions, trying to ask him out, she'd do ANYTHING. Though she'd give her life gladly for him, his heart hadn't melted by even a little bit.

Once, he came so close to leaving Konoha that she cried so much. Just before he left, she begged him to stay. Amazingly, he complied, but saying it wasn't for her, it was because he would 'get stronger the harder way', saying something about wanting to beat Itachi as an avenger, not as a beggar for power, because he valued his pride.

After that, she had tried to ask him out even MORE, refusing to believe the fact that he just did it because he didn't want to be a beggar for power, and wanted to be partial of the reason as well. But, Sakura should've known, as she soon realized, that, that wasn't true.

Sighing again at that, she suddenly became depressed. If she could see in the future, of whom the man she'd fall in love with or who she'd turn out to be with, it would make things a lot easier, but unfortunately, life wasn't always that easy.

Naruto had seemed to notice that Sakura was feeling down because he slowly edged his way to her, trying to start up a conversation, thinking that the cause of her depression was because of the lack of a conversation.

"So…"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Um…Hinata is really awesome."

"I know that, Naruto."

Poor Sakura, Naruto not knowing that the cause of her pain was because of the lack of a guy, not the fact of not having a conversation. But, even though it would be blindly obvious, it wouldn't seem as Naruto would notice because he seemed oblivious of these things **(I mean, he didn't even know that Hinata liked him…that was pretty obvious…)**

"So, I've been thinking of asking Hinata in marriage." Naruto continued.

"Really!?!!?!?" Sakura excitedly said, she couldn't wait to go to their wedding, her depressive state dissipating at this news.

"Yeah! It'd be so awesome, but now the only problem is if her parents would accept."

"Well, how about going over to the Hyuga's later, and show them how responsible you are." Sakura suggested.

"Sasuke immediately interjected, by snorting at that comment. "Naruto is the LEAST responsible person I know, he'd probably make things worse."

Although it was unbelievably blunt and mean, Sakura had to kind of agree, I mean, let's all face it, Naruto was like a magnet when it came to unexpected bad things. But there was one thing that she had to disagree of Sasuke about, if there was ONE person who had the worst luck, but could turn it around, it was him. Naruto had made it through thick and thin, even in the worst situations.

"I think it'll turn out great in the end," Sakura supported Naruto. "The Hyuga's will see how talented you are, you've already proven to me how much you are a long time ago."

Naruto's sad face was replaced so quickly with a happy one, that if you blinked, you would've missed the change.

"Yeah!!! I'll do that! I can't fail Hinata." Naruto shouted, using the signature Lee pose. (Guess it wore off to him…) and made a grin from ear to ear.

Sakura giggled at that, but went serious and asked, "Does Hinata know about this?"

Naruto thought long and hard, at which Sakura had to sweat drop about. _He didn't remember?_ But then Naruto exclaimed and said "Oh yeah! I remember!!! Yeah, she doesn't know…"

Sakura said as she suggested an idea to Naruto "Well you have to tell her eventually, so why don't you do it when Hinata comes over to Suna."

Tsunade had originally planned on sending only team 7, but hearing from the council members that apparently the Akatsuki were involved, she sent more backup, which would come later on. Of course, she didn't tell the Kazekage that, for he would flat out refuse, so she decided to make it a…surprise…

The "surprise" people would consist of Hinata, Shikamaru, and Neji.

As they headed to Suna, a sandstorm suddenly appeared out of no where.

Sakura turned a little frantic, but pushed the fear out of her face. "What should we do?" She yelled over the raging storm.

She couldn't even see any of them anymore. "Naruto?!?!?!" Screaming over the howling winds while the sand whipped through her hair, scraping over her skin.

Someone grabbed her waist and pulled closer to her. She squeaked at surprise, tensing at the touch of his arm wrapped around her waist. She was about to yell at that person, demanding why he was doing that, so she whipped around to only come face to face with non other than Sasuke.

_What the hell? Sasuke?!?!?! He made it perfectly clear from before that he wanted nothing to do with me 'in that sort of way'._

Sasuke, noticing the dumbness written on her face, pointed out for her like it was a state of the obvious for him. "I'm anchoring you to the floor; you were going to be swept away from the storm.

Sakura blushed at the encounter, not only because of the fact that she was so stupid to misunderstand the situation, but because he was practically hugging her. So, to 'anchor' herself easier, she latched her arms around him.

At that point, inner Sakura let out a dog call, laughing with mass hysteria.

This made Sakura blush, 'What? I'm using him as an anchor, so I don't get lost in the storm'

Inner Sakura snorted at this comment, '_you except me to BELIEVE that? Ahem, it's obviously more than that.'_ Saying this while grinning maliciously.

Sakura ignored this comment, with much difficulty though, and buried her head in Sasuke's chest because she was blushing so much, which resulted with Inner Sakura to start bugging her even more about that.

Sasuke looked with mild interest to see Sakura buried in his chest. It was kind of comforting but annoying at the same time.

The closest girl that Sasuke would remotely come close to dating would be Sakura. But he knew that he had a goal far more important than things such as 'dating' and 'falling in love', he had to defeat and restore the pride in the Uchiha clan.

So with that, he refused to notice Sakura and fight down the blush that was rising in his face.

Once the storm died down, they looked for Naruto, since it would've been useless actually trying to find him when the storm was still raging. They found him, surprisingly fine. Turns out he had tried to walk out of the storm, and did. Then there was this oasis, which he marked on a tree with a kunai on a lone tree next to the water with a 'NarutoxHinata' in the trunk. He proudly said that he would show that oasis to Hinata and propose to her

Sakura thought that was the cutest thing ever, and very original. No one would've ever thought of that. "I think that's a great way to propose to her."

"Yep!" Naruto beamed "and I'm going to call this oasis the proposing oasis. Whoever doesn't propose here will…" he thought, looking around and finally got an idea. "Get crushed by a boulder!" (**like one of those places that say if you don't do something, you get crushed or something, yeah, I just picked up the idea ; )**

Sakura and Sasuke sweat-dropped at this. "Um, Naruto, there aren't any boulders here, that would be impossible." Sakura told him.

"Oh yeah…okay, how about this, if you DON'T propose to that person here, you will get…hit in the head with a coconut?" Naruto suggested.

Sasuke noticed it was getting late, so quickly gave an agreement with his new idea thing, and said we should make camp for today.

Sakura looked up in the night sky. It was beautiful, full of stars and gracefulness. She sighed, but was quickly replaced with a shiver. _Darn cold temperature at night…_pulling her sleeping bag closer to her.

She saw a shooting star fly across the night, and wished '_I hope that I will find true love in the future.'_

And falling asleep. Sasuke, seeing her sleeping, and her shivering, put his extra blanket sheet over her, and fell asleep as well.

Meanwhile, in Suna, a tired Kazekage peeled his eyes off his paperwork. He knew that the title of Kazekage was a tough one, but he ALSO knew that this would please the people of Suna.

Over the years of his childhood, he started to go from an innocent child, to a sadistic killer at the age of 13. Now, looking back, her realized his mistakes and was trying to make it up. Unfortunately, this was a problem, because 'bad habits die harder'. He had a tendency of loosing his temper and killing a few people. He knew it wasn't his fault, it was Shukaku's, but the villagers didn't. They blamed him, called him a monster, called him names, said he'd never be loved, which in part, he knew was true. It was a fantasy to want to be loved, it would never happen.

Looking out at the star filled night, he noticed a shooting star. '_I hope that, one day, I will feel loved.'_ Thinking back of what he said, he snorted. It would never happen. Turning his head from the window of the Kazekage tower and going back to his paperwork.

_If only he knew that hope is sometimes answered…_

**Like it so far? I really hope you do Yeah, sasusaku a little bit, but if you don't like it, well, tough luck, sorry, just try and live with it. The ending result will be gaarasaku, I know that for a fact. Tell me if I should improve in any way and if the chapters are too long, too short, just right, you know.**


	2. the 1st goal

**Previously:**

_Sakura looked up in the night sky. It was beautiful, full of stars and gracefulness. She sighed, but was quickly replaced with a shiver. Darn cold temperature at night…as she pulled her sleeping bag closer to her._

_She saw a shooting star fly across the night, and wished 'I hope that I will find true love in the future.'_

_----------_

_Looking out at the star filled night, he noticed a shooting star. 'I hope that, one day, I will feel loved.' Thinking back of what he said, he snorted. It would never happen. Turning his head from the window of the Kazekage tower and going back to his paperwork._

_If only he knew that hope is sometimes answered…_

**Okay, wasting NO TIME with updating (I'm actually procrastinating on things I have to do…but whatever… ;) enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

Sakura woke up earlier than usual. She didn't like the idea of sleeping so long because she usually got nightmares. She always tried to wake up earlier when she slept around with other people. Otherwise they'd probably hear her nightmares and ask about them.

Once she had a sleep over with the girls and she went thrashing about, calling Sasuke's name. Ino asked her about it when she woke up, but she refused to answer any of her questions. It was utterly stupid how she STILL loved Sasuke. After all the things he did to her, and she still likes him. It drove her insane.

Packing up her sleeping stuff, she noticed a blanket that was unfamiliar to her. _Where could it have come from?_

Glancing over at Naruto, he was still in a ball of TONS of comforters and such, _it couldn't have been him. _Then looking at Sasuke, she noticed that he only had one layer of a blanket. _No way…_

She searched all over the unknown blanket desperately and gasped when she saw the Uchiha clan symbol. _Oh my god!!!! Sasuke gave me his blanket when I was sleeping!?!?!?_

Inner Sakura was kicking in, giving cat calls and cheering and such.

She folded it up nicely and slowly crept up to him to put it away for him, but, darn his awesome ninja skills, his eyes immediately snapped wide open.

"Umm, thanks for giving me your blanket at night." Sakura shyly said, but mentally head-banging herself. _I thought I made a promise not to be all shy, and be strong! Like a kunoichi should act._

"Hn" was his only reply as he took the blanket and put it in his bag, packing up as well.

She gradually went back to her site and started packing up as well. They did their own stuff in silence, the only noise was Naruto's snoring as he slept on.

Sakura eventually got the courage to ask Sasuke, "Um, when we get to Suna, do you want to hang out?" Hope was filled in her eyes.

Sasuke let out a quick "no" and continued doing his work, not even sparing her a glance, he knew that she would get all wishy washy and, in part, it kind of hurt him when she got upset, though he'd NEVER show it.

Sakura indeed got deflated, but stood proud as she knew that she could control her emotions, and for the first time, she said a simple "okay."

Sasuke was shocked, and swiveled around. She wasn't crying, she accepted his rejection, what was happening?!?

Sasuke was about to ask her when Naruto yelled out loud "Hamburgers! Get them away from me! Evil!! Oh king of Ramen!!! Please help your disciple in need!" and woke up.

Sakura, ignoring Sasuke because she didn't want to answer the question, scolded him. "Naruto! You should've gotten up a long time ago, we're going to be late to get to Suna if you don't hurry up and start packing.

Naruto let out a quick "Gomen, Sakura-Chan." And quickly started packing.

Once they were finished packing, they headed out to Suna. It was quite the tension-filled trip. Every time Sasuke was about to question Sakura, she immediately started talking to Naruto about something, leaving a frustrated Sasuke.

When they had finally reached Suna, they were greeted by Kankuro and Temari, which they introduced themselves as sand shinobi, but leaving out the part that they were actually siblings of the Kazekage. Sasuke was just about to ask again when Sakura, getting used to the 'sensing of Sasuke about to ask her' said, "Temari! Naruto and Hinata are going to get married!"

Temari let out a girlish squeal, which received some weird looks from Kankuro.

Naruto just groaned and whined, "Sakura-Chan, please don't tell the whole world, I haven't even proposed to her yet."

Temari looked at her watch (which they probably didn't have…so she looked at the sun's direction or something) and quickly got nervous, "We're late!!"

Kankuro got all wide-eyed. "Uh, Temari, why don't we show them the entrance of the tower and let them find their way the rest of the way…"

Temari hit him over the head, and looked at the confused team 7, and explained. "The Kazekage is very…punctual on his timing…He usually loses his temper if you're late…which is not a very good thing."

Sasuke scoffed, he'd seen worse probably, Naruto's knees were banging against each other as he was shaking, wondering if his oh mighty ramen god could pull him out of this one, and Sakura just mused who it would be.

Once they got to the tower, Kankuro was true to his word and bolted at the sight of the tower doors. Temari, was nicer to them and showed them the way to the front of the Kazekage's door. But when the opened the door, she was shaking in fear.

Knocking on the door, she said, "Kazekage, you're backup is here, and with that she muttered Sakura and the others a quick sorry and bolted out of there.

They, slowly walked in, not quite sure what to expect, _he couldn't be THAT bad…could he?_

Gaara heard his sister, say about the team that was late. His chair was turned so his face was towards them so they couldn't see him.

He swiveled the chair around so he could yell at them when he came face to face with the more curious, green eyes staring right back at him.

His anger was seeping away unintentionally as he just looked into her eyes, they were so entrancing.

Sakura's heart was beating crazy, what do I do? Why is he staring at me like that? Oh god, did I do something wrong?

Aside from those questions, she had more, like, god, he's so hot…is he single?

Well, those thoughts were more of Inner Sakura's thoughts, but, although Sakura would never agree, she thought so too.

Gaara was the first to snap out of the trance and then rip his eyes off hers and focus hard on his paperwork to distract him, with no avail.

"You are to guard me throughout for, according to Tsunade, till as long as the threats subside, but honestly, it does not matter to me if you leave earlier, because, frankly, I can take care of myself." He stated, a matter-of-factly.

Sakura got the courage to ask "It is our duty to guard you, for how long is necessary, but I have a question."

Gaara looked up, impatience was written all over his face. "Well, go on."

_Ooh, feisty are we._ Inner Sakura cat called, but Sakura ignored her, and continued, "We have no problems guarding you in the morning, but who is going to guard you at night?"

"Well, at night, I'm usually in the tower, or in my room, you're more than welcome to stay and 'protect' me." Gaara grinned maliciously.

Sakura gasped and blushed furiously at this comment.

Gaara's face returned to his normal emotionless face, "I'm just kidding, honestly, I suffer from insomnia so I don't sleep that often." Keeping his eyes on the paperwork, he didn't want to tell them about his position, that he was actually the container of Shukaku, this might spread through Konoha when they return, thus creating an uproar against Suna.

Naruto in the background, was getting more used to the Kazekage and was wondering why Temari was so scared of him, he seemed to be nice, kind of emotionless at times, but nice nonetheless.

Sasuke took note of the strong chakra the Kazekage was emitting, and it looked like he actually had more beneath him, it seemed that he was covering it up. Not only did he take note of the chakra, but of the fact that HE was flirting with Sakura, this bugged him to no end, but suppressed a growl, he had more pressing matters to deal with, Itachi…he needed a plan of how to get him. So he tuned out of their conversation and thought of how to kill him.

The conversation was strictly professional after, Sakura explaining all the members of team 7's weaknesses and strengths (but leaving out the extra backup coming, He wasn't to know about it)

She said how Naruto was very strong and had an enormous amount of chakra, his specialty was his kage bunshins and rasengan. Occasionally he goofed off, but he was very good.

Sasuke was the prodigy of the Uchiha's, he was a star pupil, had sharingran and chidori, a form of rasengan. He was a little pre-occupied most of the time of trying to kill a certain person…cough Itachi cough but didn't say anything about why.

Then, she told him about her, a medic nin, trained by Tsunade, specialty was chakra control and concentrating them to make more powerful blows.

Gaara contemplated on telling them on his specialties, but decided against it if there was a traitor in the group, just saying that his specialty was controlling sand.

Gaara looked AT THE SUN (because they have no watches…) and noticed it was around supper time. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke agreed on splitting the time to watch over him.

Naruto voiced his opinion, "Well, I vote Sakura is to take first shift because I have to work on the oasis for Hinata and prepare before she gets here."

Sasuke thought about how Gaara would probably continue to flirt, but shook the idea out of his head, "I second that vote, because I need to prepare for other things…" (which meant he needed to train to beat Itachi.)

Sakura huffed at their decision but was, inside jumping up and down in excitement, alone with the Kazekage! But then it hit her, she didn't know his name…

Well then! She made it her goal to find out, she would NOT be persuaded in not doing so, she was GOING to find out, one way or another.

They made a plan to meet at around 11:00 pm at the entrance gates of Suna.

Gaara got up to leave for supper and Sakura hurried out to catch up to him.

Gaara looked confused, and asked, "What are you doing?"

Sakura stated the obvious, "We are BODY GUARDS therefore we guard you, ….?" Lifting off as a hint to get him to tell his name.

"Kazekage." He stated, making Sakura slump over, _this was going to be harder than she thought…_

"So where are you eating, Kazekage-sama." She would destroy him with massive formalities! Then he would be forced to tell her his name, ohh she had it all planned out.

Gaara noticed what she was trying to do, it was like a game, she would try and get what she wanted, and he would avert, just to piss her off. Then she started to say formalities, oh how he hated –sama and –san and stupid things like that, he liked to talk like equals to shinobi, but he wouldn't let her get his name that easily…though he wondered how long he would hold out.

"I am going to go home, to cook supper."

So he cooked, well she could help out, after all, she knew how to cook fairly well.

Once they arrived at his house, she had a look of dumb-stricken on her face as she saw how big the house was. Actually, it wasn't even considered a house, it was considered a mansion.

"What else do you expect, I'm the Kazekage." He said as he walked inside.

Sakura was sure she would've gotten lost if he wasn't her guide. When they finally reached the kitchen, Gaara pulled out some vegetables, a raw chicken, beef and potatoes.

"You're really hungry, aren't you?" Sakura mused at the amount of food he pulled out.

"I'm not eating all of it, this is for my siblings and me…and you I guess, which reminds me, are the other two guards to eat here as well?"

"I don't think so."

"Hn, than this is enough." As he started cooking, and Sakura helped out, here and there.

After cooking, Sakura was tired and asked the Kazekage where her living quarters were to be. Gaara lead her to her room, which was right across from his and Naruto and Sasuke's were on either side of her.

Just then, the front door opened, Gaara swirled in sand to the entrance of the door, leaving a very mad Sakura. How dare he just LEAVE without me?!?! He knows I'll get lost here.

Swinging open the door, she rampaged through every corridor she found, one lead to another, she was completely lost, but she was determined to find the kitchen and beat the crap out of the Kazekage.

Gaara on the other hand, indeed knew she would get lost, but took advantage of this by telling Kankuro and Temari of not to call him 'Gaara' but Kazekage unless he permitted it. They nodded, with curious faces, but didn't bother to ask.

They all headed to the kitchen when Temari asked "Where's Sakura anyways?" To answer her questions, they heard above a lot of cussing and stomping about and yelling that she would maim the Kazekage herself, as she went back and forth through corridors.

She finally found the kitchen and was about to strangle him when she noticed Temari and Kankuro in the room, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, we're Gaara's siblings." Kankuro said.

"I can't believe you actually can stand this son of a-" But was cut off by Temari rushing over and placing her hands over her mouth. Kankuro was gasping, and totally shocked.

Temari was going to start pleading Gaara not to kill her but surprised her by saying, "Well, aren't you guys going to seat yourself? It is supper and the food is going to get cold soon."

Temari and Kankuro were shocked beyond belief, this was the first time that Gaara had not killed a person because he/she had cussed at him.

Sakura had an annoyance looking type of glare at Temari and muffled for her to remove her hand before she was forced to bite it.

They all started to eat, all in silence.

Gaara was, honestly, quite amused by Sakura's temper, it drove him crazy…in an exciting way and in a hormonal way too? this couldn't possibly be happening.

Shukaku decided to jut in the conversation now, _'Ooh, looks like little Gaara is growing up into a man.'_ Maniacally laughing. _'She's pretty hot, good pick buddy.'_

'Ahh, so the pain in the ass is back to torture me.' Gaara grumbled at Shukaku.

'_Hey, hey, just trying to help. But I'm seriously impressed, usually you would've killed a person by now, at all her pokes and jabs by now.'_

'It's weird, but she makes my anger dissipate, well most of the time, and I want to kiss her…'

'_or do other things…'_ Shukaku said and gave a toothy grin.

'Shukaku! Stop being such a perverted Jinchuuriki. Actually, I've never heard you being perverted ever. Why are you starting now?' Gaara asked.

'_Because, unlike all the other girls you've seen, this one actually turns you on.'_

Gaara didn't want to hear anymore from Shukaku so he tuned out and started eating his meal.

Once they were done, Sakura offered to do the dishes, but Temari refused to let her do all of them by herself, so helped out too.

Temari asked if he killed them when they were late at the meeting, but Sakura just said "no" and he was fine, and asked "what was she talking about from before, because he was fine, and not mean in any way."

Temari was shocked and asked many questions after that, like what had they discussed about.

Sakura said mostly professional stuff, but then blushed when she said about how the Kazekage had kind of flirted with her.

Temari was on the verge of fainting at this point. Gaara! Flirting!!!

Sakura then asked Temari what the Kazekage's name was.

Temari stopped doing the dishes and apologized to her, but she made a vow to 'The Kazekage' on not being able to tell her.

This pissed her off to no end, not the fact that Temari wasn't telling her, but the fact that Gaara had known that she would ask Temari.

So with this she stomped upstairs, remembering where her room was, and lay on the bed, thinking hard.

And gasped and got up. She had the perfect idea…smirking evilly as she left the room.

Gaara entered the kitchen and saw Temari doing the dishes.

He sighed said "You don't have to keep my name a secret anymore."

Temari was shocked. "Why?"

Grumbling, he said "Kankuro already told her 'by accident'."

Temari saw Gaara stomping going upstairs, "Wait, where are you going?"

"Upstairs to kill a certain person…"

Temari shook her head, poor, poor Kankuro.

After an hour or so, Temari was watching TV, it was SpongeBob. (**wait, they wouldn't HAVE TV's, would they? Well, whatever, I'm winging it, they do now!)** She heard the couch sag down as someone sat next to her, it was Gaara.

"What are you doing-" Temari said as she was cut off before she could say Gaara with sand. Then ANOTHER Gaara walked in the living room.

_What the hell?_ Was what Temari was thinking, two Gaara's?!?! Which ones the real one.

The Gaara who just walked in went to the other Gaara and whispered, "You're clever, but you're cheating."

The Gaara who was sitting down, hissed back at the other one "Who said I played fair, besides, telling Temari not to tell me wasn't exactly fair either."

Flashback/Explanation

_Sakura smirked when she got her idea, and headed out the door, making a transformation jutsu to look like the Kazekage, playing the whole thing as if Kankuro had already told her. _

_Once leaving, she returned to Temari, and KNEW that she would have to say his name eventually._

The real Gaara went to Temari and said "Don't tell Sakura my name unless you hear this…" as he whispered the password to her. And, much to Sakura's dismay, she couldn't hear it.

And with that, the real Gaara left. Sakura changed back to her normal self and went to her room to think some more.

Gaara was in his room, thinking what Sakura would try next.

'_you're being a little too paranoid, don't you think? I mean, it's just your name.' _Shukaku said, as he came to his conscious.

'In this, it's more than just my name, it's my pride. Whoever wins, gets the glory.' Gaara retorted.

'_I'm surprised you aren't giving her an easy time with this one.' _Shukaku mused.

'I do not like to lose, especially not to a girl who needs to see that I am in control.' Gaara growled.

' _Well it looks like you're NOT in control yet, not even close. You almost got caught with that last trick she tried to pull.'_

Gaara mentally sighed at this, 'I know, I had no idea she was this smart, well at least this gives us an idea of how she strategizes.'

Shukaku nodded, '_yes, it's very good training too.'_

So both Gaara and Shukaku gathered up ideas of how Sakura would try and defeat them and make counter advances. Though they didn't know it yet, this 'game' was helping Shukaku and Gaara get along better in ways they didn't think possible from before.

Sakura was pacing her room, she needed an idea, a good one, something to throw him off.

'…_Something that would catch him off guard.' _Inner Sakura mused.

'Have any ideas?' Sakura asked.

They were girls, therefore (not to be stereotypical or anything) but had agreed on working together to pull them down long time ago.

'_Not yet.' _Inner Sakura said, scrunching her face in deep thought.

'We could always get it out of him by force.' Sakura suggested.

'_You actually think we could win? He controls the sand, we're in Suna, village of the SAND, there's no way we could win.' _Inner argued.

'What if we get either Sasuke or Naruto to ask him?'

'_He would immediately know why and also, why would they even try? Sasuke wouldn't do that for you and Naruto would probably mess up somehow.'_

'Hmm, okay, what about…' Sakura thought but drifted off, this might actually work!

Inner Sakura didn't even need to ask, she got the idea, '_Well, it's worth a try, I think it'll work.'_

So they agreed on that, tomorrow, they'd get it out of him.

**Okay! I've updated this chapter REALLY quickly, but I might not for a while now, I'm a little busy. I hope this chapter made up for the other one, it's basically ALL gxs. Seriously, if you have any ideas on what will probably happen, I'd gladly hear out what you have to say, because I honestly don't' know ; I just started this fanfic today, and I haven't even thought about anything of it that much.**


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